


Thunderbirds are Red

by CutCat



Category: Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Thunderbirds
Genre: Canon-Typical Violence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-28
Updated: 2021-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-12 18:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 5,284
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29763546
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CutCat/pseuds/CutCat
Summary: After Jeff Tracy's disappearance, almost nobody seriously considered that he'd eventually be located on Mars, so close to home after all. But the dark side of the Red Planet held more than just the former astronaut and the wrecked Zero-X. The Mysterons were silently observing, but now it's time for them to make their presence known. International Rescue are approached by the SPECTRUM organisation, as their skills and technology are deemed essential in this new War of Nerves, to prevent as many deaths as possible. But even with the best vehicles and pilots to man them, are they even a match for the vengeful Martians?
Comments: 4
Kudos: 12





	1. Zero-X

**Author's Note:**

> A crossover between Thunderbirds are Go and Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, because I'm utterly in love with both series and the story potential for the shared universe is incredible! Though I am mostly drawing from the 2015 TAG series more than the OG, because I'm much more familiar with it, but the original 1967 CSatM instead of the Uncanny Valley "New" version from '05. I'll try to make it so the disconnect between the Zeerusty 60's idea of the future and the more modern notions is minimal ;) The title is based on the seldom heard "Spectrum is Red" code from CS and, of course, the main catchphrase from Tbirds.

Scott would one day look back and rue the day the Zero-X got approved.

He knew the designers and mechanics had poured everything into making it work, scientists working around the clock and making new discoveries as they went, but the craft they were building was approved by bigwigs who had simply focus grouped a result that was no better than a giant Lemon.

Modular engines, a deep space propulsion system, cutting edge facilities to support the astronauts hand picked to drive it into distant nebulas, a magnificent and much hyped Rocketship... which would lead to his whole world being turned upside down and shaken for good measure.

When he had first heard of it, he had been sitting in the living room, talking with his dad when a top secret message appeared on his desk. Many months later, he was watching the live feed of it’s pre flight assembly on hologram. The whole family had gathered around to watch, except for Scott’s father, who was an honoured guest at the ceremony.

As Jeff Tracy was the first man to walk on Mars’ surface, it had only been natural that he would be invited. He had been reluctant, but Scott had assured him he would be able to step in as temporary commander should anything happen during the hours where Jeff would be busy. He was just there to wave to the crowd, maybe offer a few comments to the news.... officially.

Unofficially, the secondary reason Jeff was there was because the GDF practically begged on hands and knees for him to be there. While Jeff’s position as the head of International Rescue was classified, the GDF were aware and hoped his presence would help everything go over smoothly. Jeff had half jokingly deflected at first, saying that International Rescue was just that, a Rescue organisation, and not hired security. But there was still the very real threat that a hydraulic fault or system jam would be discovered, so he was indeed there to be eyes on the ground, first to identify any potential accident and to summon his sons to swoop in and save the personnel.

Of course, what no one had thought to anticipate instead was not a mere accident or fault. No, just one greedy opportunist who had set out to sabotage the entire event and to make off with the treasured spacecraft.

The Hood.

The footage for the events that followed had been meticulously gathered over the months following, but the incomplete picture only reinforced what Scott suspected; The Hood’s failed attempt to steal the ship had resulted in the unfortunate crew found in a locked storage unit, Hood himself dragged off to jail from the Escape pod floating on the sea, but the Zero-X itself and Jeff had vanished without a trace. Only a vapour trail pointing vaguely into the sky offered an indication where the craft had shot into, but despite John’s best efforts no tracking could be found beyond Mars’ orbit.

The rest of the year had been unending chaos. The year after that was a bit less so.

International Rescue had been kept active, reasoning that if anything, this proved that they would continue to be needed. To make sure this wouldn’t happen to anyone else. They had made friends, a few ‘Problem Rescue-ees’, and it seemed the world had continued turning after all. At one point Colonel Casey had forwarded information to him, but it was just a new department the World Government had set up. Some kind of security organisation. It felt a bit late for that, but Scott was glad they might have a slightly reduced workload. He could dream, couldn’t he?

Indeed, it had felt a bit like a dream when Brains had called a meeting to discuss a thrilling new development. The combined efforts of the man with blue framed glasses, John in the quieter days and his new AI Partner, EOS, had uncovered a strange transmission from part of Mars that hadn’t been colonised. It wasn’t like anything they could match, but after another week of extensive unpicking at the code and figuring out the cypher, the message was clear:

**_FAB_ **

There could be no doubt. Their dad was on Mars.

Alan had already bolted towards his sofa, intent of getting into 3 to warm up the ion thrusters. Not one of them wanted to wait another second, but eventually enough restraint was shown so that they could properly prepare. There was no question all 5 of them would be making the trip, so there were other strings to pull.

Just in case.

And they were off, cruising towards TB5 to rendezvous with John. And in TB3, Mars was practically a hop, skip and a jump away from their home. But with this convenience came gnawing anxiety, why had it taken so long for the code to appear? Why was it so hard to unravel? What might they find on the dark side of the red planet? But the overwhelming urge to bring their dad home meant these thoughts went unsaid. Perhaps it was because the news had turned them back into the kids who wanted a hug. But still, with Three gracefully landing in a shadowy cliff, it was 5 professional rescue workers who emerged and searched for the Zero-X.

It was there, all right. Crashed too badly to be flightworthy, but not so poorly that she was a blackened, crispy husk. Jeff had taken her in as carefully as he could have. But beyond the dull blue paint lay something even stranger, and Scott had to check it wasn’t just his eyes playing on him, but they all agreed.

A multicoloured city lay in the valley below the Zero-X crash. Too alien to be people from the colony, but difficult to see clearly, with a strange haze blurring the structures. Something about it seemed to steal the breath from inside him, and he could only stare, wide eyed and mouth agape, until the bubble burst and they turned back to the Zero-X. Their scanners were picking up a life sign from inside.

No further time for distractions. Even that Civilisation would have to wait.


	2. Thunderbird Three

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You may have noticed from the first chapter, but while I'm basing the Thunderbirds angle more on TAG than TOS, I'm still taking a fair few liberties with the canon. Things like reducing the 8 years to 2 is the biggest, though I still have the boys be whatever ages they're at when the show opens. And the events of the TAG show aren't gonna be followed rigidly; I really don't care for certain parts of S2 and S3 so I reserve the right to cut them out of any potential references or allusions, hahaha. Part of why I wanted to write a fic was to make Fixes, after all~

Predictably, the outer airlock had been jammed shut, so Virgil and Alan were working on gaining access into the downed Rocketship, carefully calculating where to make the cuts to prevent decompression. The rest of them stood a bit further back, listlessly surveying the area.

Scott had already paced up and down the considerable length of the craft, trying not to glare petulantly at the behemoth. It was still sheltering his father, after all, if it could only be good for one thing, he was glad that was it.

John had clearly opened a communication line with EOS, filling her in on what they could see and asking if she could search through some databases. Scott couldn’t hear EOS’s half of the conversation. He wondered how the AI would take the news of an alien settlement.

The laser cutting had begun by now, but with the hull so sturdy it could take a long time.

Gordon was transparently uneasy. Standing so the shadow of the Zero-X hid him from the city, he was shifting his weight from foot to foot. Scott couldn’t blame him, hell, even without this startling development, Gordon was always the least excited at the prospect of being outside Earth’s atmosphere. He was literally the furthest from his chosen element here than the rest of them. Thunderbird Four was actually in Three’s belly this very moment, a precaution in case her ability to withstand tremendous pressure or the less likely chance of water actually being present, required her to navigate further. But it was for the best that those weren’t the case. Better to prepare and not need the precautions, a mentality Virgil in particular lived and breathed by. Speaking of...

“How’re we going on the doorway?” He felt everyone turn his way.

“Shouldn’t be long now. Alan just needs to change the cartridge in his cutter.”

“It’s too damn **thick** ,” Alan’s voice betrayed just a bit of the impatience he was doing so well to conceal. “I never thought I’d say this, but Grandma’s meatloaf is easier to cut through!”

Scott could hear Gordon walk up behind him. “You’re positive there isn’t a back door or key hidden under one of these rocks, right?”

“Nah,” Virgil’s voice was dry. “No welcome mat.”

Scott glanced back towards John to see if he felt like chiming in, but he was too wrapped up talking into his helmet. Ah well.

“FAB. The sensors have the life sign be towards the control room.”

It was a redundant statement, they’d all been pouring over the same data, but he felt like he had to say something to help them all ignore the giant multicoloured elephant in the room. Or down in the valley.

The others echoed FABs of their own. By now John also drew closer, though it was clear he was going to be talking to EOS, and probably Brains as well by now, for the whole mission.

Electromagnets locked onto the cutout and Virgil yanked it aside. The interior was dark and enclosed, another double set of doors would be a few metres away for them to access the corridor properly. Again, they were silent, but the buzzing of anticipation could be felt reverberating through the vacuum. They filed in, Scott naturally taking the lead as he powered on the bright LEDs in his helmet. Behind him, the powerful blast from Virgil’s shoulder mounted spotlight brought the space into sharp relief.

They were now taking steps down the long, narrow passageway. The craft was considerably longer than she was wide, but still so spartan and empty their footfalls echoed. One of them called out “Dad?”.

Oh. That was him.

Anyway. They had their state-of-the-art trackers to follow, steadily steering them in the right direction. This doorway was to one of the widest sections. He looked up at his left wrist for the hundredth time to see the bars of the signal stronger than they’d been all day. This was going to be the moment of truth.

The door slid open with a soft beep.

Cryogenic stasis chambers were lined up in the room, one for each of the intended crew. Low to the ground and almost horizontal, translucent, and only one was occupied.

Time seemed to jump to them all gathered around. Scott reached towards the release hatch, but John’s hand slapped his away.

“Med scan first.” He said sternly.

Just a tiny bit affronted, Scott obligingly fished out a small round device from one of the packets in his belt, passing it over to John so he could get a few moments of quiet to try and calm his racing thoughts.

It felt like everyone was holding their breath. When the scan made a positive chime Scott almost thought he was going to laugh out loud in deranged relief, but he just about bit it back.

“Sending transmission to Tracy Island,” John muttered. “He’s going to need care while he readjusts to being on Earth... and awake, for that matter.”

“How long has the timer been set for?” That was Virgil.

John peered at the readouts by the latch. “About as long as he’s been MIA. EOS will be able to calculate it down to minutes later.”

The two youngest brothers hadn’t said anything in a while, but Alan in particular was getting restless. “C’mon, guys! Did we come here just to gawk like he’s a museum piece? Let’s go home already!”

“Cool your jets, Al. Humans weren’t supposed to be stasis for prolonged time, we need to do this carefully.” Virgil said, reasonably.

There was a slight pause while everyone expected Gordon to say something. It came and went. Scott looked back at him.

“What? What, I didn’t say anything?”

“Sorry, guess we’re all a bit on edge. John, do I have your approval to open the lid?”

“Yes.”

“Virgil?”

“Also yes.”

“Ok then. Wake up Dad, we’re taking you home.”

The chilled vapour poured out of the chamber to slink around at foot level in the room, as it was denser than the air that had been sealed in with airlocks.

Five sets of eyes peered down at Jeff Tracy. While he may not have aged in the traditional way, he looked exhausted, not like he’s had a peaceful night’s sleep, but a nightmare. While he was blinking, there was a lack of focus to his gaze and seemingly a lack of comprehension to the situation. However--

“....Boys. My boys....”

Five simultaneous screams of **_DAD!!_** A momentary shuffling as they all reached out towards him, only to bump into each other and to remember they were still on the mission. Time for that later.

Still, Scott’s heart had felt lighter than he could remember, even as he and Virgil shared their father’s weight with one of his arms across each of their shoulders. They ought to have brought a stretcher, but he’d been lying down long enough. This was fine. They were just going back to TB3, and Tracy Island, and everything would be able to settle back down.

* * *

They were aboard Thunderbird 3. Alan, bright eyed and intensely focused on flying as smoothly as possible, in contrast to his usual favouring of speed. John, back to nonstop talking on their private comms, relaying data a mile a minute. Virgil, fussing over their father and generally watching him like a hawk. Gordon, who seemingly couldn’t stop looking back towards Mars and looking forward in Earth’s direction.

And Scott, watching all of them.

Currently cruising over the human Martian colony, he wondered if any of the people there would see the distinctive red rocket that was Three. Would they see her and presume danger or safety? The THUNDERBIRD 3 along the side of her hull was a beacon of hope, but right now he didn’t want to draw too much attention. He wanted to be selfish and avoid any form of media covering Dad’s return. And any accidental stumbling upon the alien city they were leaving behind.

Just thinking about it was scrunching his stomach up something fierce. Looking at his brothers and father eased the discomfort, but it seemed John and Gordon were on a similar page, fretting over the details.

John believed in Extra Terrestrial Life. It was a given, with how incomprehensively massive the universe was, how accidental perfection in environments would cause it to appear. It was mathematics, physics, theories and some other things that Scott didn’t like to admit went over his head a lot.

Gordon not only believed in Aliens, but Mermaids too. This seemed to be less science based, but it was, as a lot of thing Gordon did were, a belief he poured his heart into and no one would be able to cause his conviction to waver in the slightest.

But still, to honestly expect Mars, their closest neighbour in planetary terms, to have not only life, but an actual civilisation akin to humans? That was deeply unsettling. And Scott **hated** how much that thought was taking precious time and energy away from the rescue of their father, but there they were.

Besides, it was possible that the two were linked, wasn’t it? Probable, even. Of all the places the Zero-X could be crashed, it was on the doorstep of literal aliens? The mathematical odds of that happening by chance may even be beyond even John’s ability with numbers.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope the Jeff rescue as written here doesn't feel underwhelming (cough cough the actual show did for me cough) but anyway, this is still early days yet! ;3


	3. Tracy Island

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Not particularly relevant to this chapter, but I haven't yet mentioned that I see the age order as being Scott -> John -> Virgil -> Gordon -> Alan. I sometimes think of this as the Opening Titles Order and I refuse to budge from it, as it's consistently shown that way in said OP, and the dynamics match it better to me.

As they were slowly descending through the Round House, Brains appeared on hologram. Fortunately, Alan didn’t start like Scott did at the abrupt sight.

“B-before you all disembark, it would be prudent to note that you should all be in quarantine. What with the s-suspected alien life so close to your mission, we don’t w-want any pathogens coming to Earth.”

"But Brains, we’ve been to Mars and back before, no quarantine or anything. We’ve been fine.”

“T-this time you’ve had v-visuals on a complex. The t-times before, we had no evidence to suggest there was s-some form of life.”

Scott was about to continue his protest, but another voice cut in from somewhere behind Brains. _Grandma._

“I don’t care if they’re got tentacles growing out of their ears, I’m not waiting another second without seeing my Boys again, Brains! Their home is about as isolated as you can get, and Jeff can’t stay cooped up in Three for a fortnight.”

“O-of course, Mrs Tracy...”

Grandma now appeared on her own hologram. “The Medbay is prepped and ready. You lot, go dump your suits and take a shower, I’ll check you over once I’ve seen to my son. I’m so proud of all of you.”

Looking at Grandma’s warm smile, it made it easier to believe things were going to all be fine. Brains would probably put his foot down in not letting them off the island until he deemed the isolation period sufficiently long, but as soon as that lifted, it would be business as usual, picking stranded mountaineers up from cliffs, digging people out of rubble, fishing them out of the water...

Grandma was ready with a hover stretcher and promptly bustled away with Dad. She was murmuring something that Scott couldn’t pick out.

Obligingly, the five brothers all trailed off towards the showers. Brains and Kayo were keeping a distance, but there was no doubt that John had brought them up to speed during the flight.

After an oddly quiet and orderly shower session, the five eventually meandered back together in the conversation pit. It was like they each shared a tiredness deep in their bones, the absence of adrenaline and urgency and the presence of a new spectre haunting their minds... at least, that’s how he saw it.

He wanted to say something, to congratulate them on a job well done, to cautiously open the floor to discussing a course of action, to shake off the malaise that felt like swimming through treacle. No words came.

It was therefore a delight to hear footsteps and turn his head to see Kayo walk in. She was still keeping her distance, but seemingly only because it was what Brains suggested rather than any apprehension on her part.

“So boys, another successful rescue. I’d say I wish I could have been there, but you all look shattered.”

Alan pushed himself up on the sofa. “How’s Dad? I barely got to see him, being the driver and all.”

She smiled. “Grandma is sure he’ll be fine, but she’s not taking any chances. You’ll probably be summoned in once she’s satisfied. Hope none of you are hiding anything?” There was a leading edge to that.

“Nope,” Virgil grunted. “No bumps, bangs or booboos.”

“Wow, what are the chances of that? Very odd.”

Scott had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. “Alright, fine. Let’s talk about it. Might as well get it over with.”

The old truth-ism about ripping off a band aid came to mind.

John straightened his posture. “Well Kayo, I’ve told you what I saw out there, though without having personally investigated all we have otherwise is speculation. Still, Mars has been surveyed countless times when setting up the colony and still after it, always looking for other life-supporting areas. The fact that the buildings in the valley have never been detected by scanners, satellites, or other means before, and how difficult it was to decode Dad’s message definitely implies a connection.”

“So you think,” maybe she hadn’t noticed she’d drawn closer, already wrapped up in ideas. “the civilisation and Jeff’s crash landing were connected.”

“Maybe,” Scott hedged. “The Zero-X was supposed to be able to go much further than our own solar system, but if it took a beating while the Hood was sabotaging it, I wouldn’t be shocked that it’s trajectory would have been affected.”

Alan piped up. “If the aliens didn’t cause Dad to crash, maybe instead they helped him not crash... like, into their buildings. Y’know, with tractor beams or something. The Zero-X could have wiped that place out! It was really lucky there wasn’t a collision, or it may not have been luck at all.”

Virgil looked thoughtful. “The shapes of the city, though... it’s not standard human style architecture, but it wasn’t a million miles away. Why would aliens build things like that?”

Gordon was lying flat on his back and was staring at the ceiling. “None of us saw them, right?” There was a slight pause where nobody gave an affirmative response, so he carried on without diverting his gaze. “We dunno if they were humanoid, or like the creatures at the bottom of the ocean, or if they have physical forms at all. So it’s hard to guess why they’d build something like that if they had no use for it. The whole thing gives me the creeps.”

Kayo was standing right on the edge of the pit by now. Having noticed, she took some steps back, before speaking. “So, no sightings, no ideas for any motives? For all you lot know, it was just a series of bright lights.”

John seemed to take slight offence to this. “But even that would have been identified! It’s that we can’t detect them remotely that’s the main cause for concern.”

Gordon’s voice floated up. “ _My_ main cause for concern is that we were messing around in their yard and we don’t know if they’re like Old Man Jenkins, cradling a shotgun on his porch.”

“C’mon guys,” Virgil was clearly trying to steer away from this line of thought. “We didn’t do anything that should have made them mad. We just picked up our Dad.”

“Oh, but what if uhh, what if they didn’t know he was our Dad to pick up? Maybe they were treating him like a pet.”

Kayo almost laughed. Almost. “Come, on Alan. That’s a point though, John, do you think you might have been able to have sent them a message?”

“Not without figuring out the cypher top to bottom. Even then, what do I say? ‘Hello Martians, I am writing to humbly request the retrieval of my father, alongside my four brothers.’? There isn’t a protocol on interacting with Extra Terrestrial life.”

Oh god. Protocols. Scott must have groaned out loud, as he could feel the others’ eyes on him.

“I really don’t want to have to report this to the GDF. Is there any way I can, you know, not?”

Kayo frowned. “I’d say you should, but knowing the GDF’s track record...”

Whatever she was about to say about the GDF and their lax security was going to have to wait, as Grandma appeared on the coffee table’s hologram.

“Whatever you’re ruminating on can wait a while. I think you boys are due for a proper look at your Dad.”

* * *

The energy that had eluded them had briefly returned, enough to have them pile into the Medbay in a rush.

Jeff Tracy was lying propped up among pristine white sheets. While monitors had been set up and positioned around, and an IV line was attached to his arm, he looked completely fine. His hands were folded loosely over each other and his eyes had the light of awareness that had been missing abord the Zero-X.

“There’s my boys!”

This time, even as they all jostled into each other, their attempt to reach out and grab him, and to be held, was a success. None of them seemed to be quite capable of speech yet.

“I can’t properly phrase just how glad I am for all of you to be my sons. You’ve made me the proudest man on Earth.”

Even though Scott knew this perfect moment wasn’t going to last, he let himself pretend it would. This was the antidote he needed. The warmth and the comfort to drive the city’s aura away.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No, I'm not alluding to Current Events, the quarantine is based on the episode Deep Search, where it's brought up right at the end of the runtime and thus the ramifications of having two of the operatives and their space craft not in rotation are completely glossed over, lol :P
> 
> I had a hard time getting the last part of this to not feel too sugary. It's too early in the fic for the emotional big guns, and the tone can't swing all over the dang place! I'm trying to aim for an audience a little more mature than the main TAG target, if you catch my drift~


	4. Holo-Desk

They had all been given the all clear by Grandma, and Dad was seeming to be more the man he was before with each passing hour. Even so, there was a mostly unanimous decision to go to bed early that day.

One thing to attend to, then he was gonna be out like a light. He had misgivings about informing the GDF, but he was glad to have one person there he could put all this faith into; Colonel Casey.

She was going to be delighted. Maybe he should wait until Dad could make the call himself?

No, that was still going to take too long. A matter like this had to be addressed pronto. He had to be a big boy here.

Casey already knew that the five of them would be setting out to see if the transmissions would provide anything. Just him calling was going to be huge for her. He really hoped she wasn’t stuck in some board room meeting at the moment.

After a few chimes, the call connected. Scott almost sighed in relief.

Sitting at her neatly organised desk, she gave him a soft smile. “Why, hello Scott. Do you have any news?”

“Yep, of the big variety, but also good. We found him.”

She gasped. “JEFF?”

“That’s him! He’s just under Grandma’s watchful eye for now, but he’ll be able to catch up with you soon.”

“Oh, Scott, that’s fantastic! I couldn’t be happier for you all!”

He grinned back, but maybe she noticed the tiredness to it, as she became more subdued herself.

“Colonel, the other thing, it’s well--”

“I understand. Rigby, the doors, please?”

Oh. Scott forgot Rigby would likely be in the office with her. He hadn’t met him much personally, but Casey trusted him with her life, so Scott wasn’t going to object now.

He soon appeared in the same hologram as Casey, standing near the back wall.

“Okay Scott, you can tell me now. Anything I can keep confidential, I will, but...”

“But if it’s a certain magnitude, you’ll have to inform the relevant people. I’m afraid that may be the case. You see... when we landed, we could see this huge building complex in the valley below. We don’t think it was human, though we couldn’t identify any forms of life. Something about it was ethereal, it never came up on scanners and, well...”

“You think there may be Martians?”

He nodded, his throat having gone dry. But he pushed through that to tell her every detail he could recall.

“...though, John was also talking it out loud to Brains when we were there, so he might’ve covered something I missed.”

Casey was looking at a point of her desk not covered by the holoprojection.

“I may need to contact him, yes. Scott, you do realise the magnitude of this. I am going to have to pass this on.”

It was the answer he expected, but it still felt like lead settling in his gut.

She continued. “Something like this is beyond the GDF’s jurisdiction. It’s possible that SPECTRUM will be the ones to handle this.”

Scott looked back up, blankly. “Who?”

Casey huffed slightly. “Just like your father. I forwarded that information to you a while back. They’re a Security Organisation, the officers in that are some of the cream of the crop from various fields. But I don’t blame you for missing the memo, you’ve had a lot going on. You get some rest, and we’ll talk soon, okay?”

“Oh...kay. Thank you, Colonel.”

“Thank _you_ , Scott. Your honesty is going to help with things going forwards.”

* * *

During the following days, Jeff was being shown the various changes from the last two years. Big changes like the TB5 Space Elevator and new Pod configurations. Much smaller adjustments to the uniforms, the position of the 3 on TB3′s paintwork and longer grapple cables. Brains was wearing his shapeless orange suit during all this, having insisted on ‘Being safe than sorry’, but Grandma and Kayo had dropped all pretence of going along with keeping a distance long ago.

Other than the safe, reliable subject of International Rescue, they had tentatively tried to ask their father about what he could remember from the experience.

Jeff shook his head. “I’m sorry, boys. I just can’t remember. As far as I can tell, I must have engaged the urgent landing protocol. From there it’s all a blank.”

Alan was sitting on the edge of his seat. “But we found you in one of those cryo-things. Do those automatically set?”

“I suppose they do.”

Any further questions were interrupted by the incoming call from Lady Penelope. The other thing they were trying to handle while unable to leave the island was an appropriate press release, so the London Agent had been kept busy.

She had filtered though the hundreds of representatives, finally settling on a man known as Ned Cook. He had also been one of the thousands of people saved by IR, in his case a building collapse nearly converted him and his cameraman into red smears, if not for their timely arrival.

Of course, this alone didn’t really mean he was to be fully trusted, so Jeff and Scott had also been practising what they’d say and what they’d omit with Penny. And then, practicing so it didn’t seem that they were reading from a script.

The other Tracy boys had other things to keep them occupied, John doing extensive research and transferring a transcript of his notes to Colonel Casey. The youngest three, who were otherwise at a bit of a loose end, had decided that as soon as the quarantine was over, but the day before relaunching as International Rescue again, they would have a party.

Penelope, Parker, Captain Lee Taylor and Colonel Casey were to be the guests, so it was more of a small family gathering than anything, but when everyone wanted to see Jeff, it made sense to dedicate a day for it. Then it would be business as usual, or perhaps more accurately, the usual of 2 years ago. Scott wouldn’t have to be their acting leader any more, and Jeff was going to handle the paperwork. They were going to be a well oiled machine.

The Holo-call with Ned came before that. Jeff patiently, warmly answered each question to what seemed to be Ned’s satisfaction. Scott managed his own side well, having had more experience of the Press side of life lately. He did feel his sweat run cold at one question, though, and it was an enquiry directed at his father. It had even been one expected, with a cover story, but something about how Jeff had answered it jarred with Scott somehow.

Ned had leaned forwards. “So, you were stranded in the Zero-X and had just sent a distress call. Now, why is it that it took 2 years to reach Earth, and why couldn’t any probes detect the ship’s presence down there?”

Jeff had stared through Ned’s hologram. “I believe that it was interference from the damaged Zero-X’s systems.”

The answer seemed to satisfy Ned, who hummed and tapped notes out. Scott glanced for a split second at his dad, still staring at a fixed point, and nudged him with his foot. Then Jeff seemed to return to the present in time to field Ned’s chatter about how _cold and dark it must have been in there, huh Colonel?_

Once the call ended, Scott slid off his seat with a sigh. Even with that seemingly going well, that was more stressful than a bunch of rescues. And it would only be a matter of time until the other News organisations started to endlessly parrot the report. Scott _really_ needed to throw himself back into work.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Actually getting to a point where I could write out SPECTRUM was fun lol.   
> I recently rewatched all of TAG's first season and was a little disappointed that Rigby doesn't actually appear until S2, him and Casey are my fav GDF characters. The GDF in general, though...? Well, if it ain't already clear it'll soon be ;)
> 
> Oh yeah, and Ned Cook! Everyone's favourite Reporter character! Felt like giving him a bit part 'cause why not? What happened offscreen before could be somewhat different to the episode but I'm keeping it open ended in case I'll want him more involved~ ...just don't bank on it, I'll probs make completely new throwaway characters for tiny roles if needed.

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you for reading, stay tuned!


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